Photo curtesy of @osaasports on Instagram
South Salem High School’s Symphonic choir took first place in OSAA’s State choral competition on Saturday, May 6. The state competition was held at Oregon State University and had a total of 24 high school choirs competing in the 6A division. South Salem’s Symphonic choir was one of them.
After competing in the various sections apart of the state competition, Symphonic choir scored 332 out of 360 points, just passing West Salem’s choir at 319. This win adds to the 14 other state championships the South Salem choir program has earned since 1987, which was the first State choir competition, now making a total of 15 State competitions won by South Salem’s program. Choir director Aubrey Dunham-Prince has now won one state championship in the span of 2 years of directing at South Salem High School.
“We needed to reestablish a foundation, in our sound and in our community and program, a new reset,” said Mrs. Dunham.
Members from the Symphonic choir describe the feeling when their names were called for first place at the state choir competition as fulfilling.
“We did all the hard work, been through the ups and been through the downs, but we did it,” said Maisy Fisher.
Their preparation for the competition was rigorous and included determination and lots of sight reading. Sight reading is a component in the State Competition which pushed Symphonic Choir points above West Salem’s Choir. Apart from that section they performed their set of 6 songs. In which they performed with many months of preparation behind them and stakes for the state title on the line.
“We just had to leave it all out there,” said Cody Thomas.
Winning OSAA’s State Choral competition displayed their hard work throughout the year and when given the opportunity to show the skills they have developed they took home a win. This win reflects positively on South Salem High School’s choir program and the singers. The students have now felt a sense of fulfillment and will continue to put in the work to reestablish a new sound to win yet another state title next year for the South Salem Saxons.
